You can vicariously live like a king or queen by visiting two royal residences in Edinburgh, because the capital of Scotland is home to both a palace and a castle.

Of course, when you look back at history, living like a Royal may lose its appeal.

By the time Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed at age 44, she had been married and widowed three times and had given birth to the future king of England and Scotland. Crowned queen of Scotland when she was barely 9 months old, she was also queen of France for one year and a prisoner in England for 19.

Not exactly a fairytale life.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse, more commonly called Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of Queen Elizabeth II when she visits Scotland and is forever linked with Queen Mary,, who was executed by the first Queen Elizabeth.

Holyrood was built by the father of Queen Mary. He died not long after her birth and she was crowned queen at 9 months of age.

Scotland was a dangerous place for an infant queen, so her mother sent Mary to France where she eventually married the heir to the crown of France, became queen of France and, barely a year later, was widowed. She was 17.

She returned to Scotland and at the age of 22, married Lord Darnley at Holyrood. It was not a happy marriage. Darnley became jealous of her secretary David Rizzio. Darnley and his cronies stabbed Rizzio to death at Holyrood in front of the heavily pregnant Mary.

Visiting Holyrood, you can climb through the chambers where the murder took place. Hard to imagine how the pregnant Mary got through some of those narrow doors, particularly the narrow private 25-step spiral staircase connecting Darnley’s apartments with the queen’s.

There is a reddish spot on the floor that reportedly marks the spot where the murder took place. Supposedly the blood stain comes back no matter what anyone does to clean it. (Not that I suppose anyone tries to clean it these days.)

I particularly liked the display of some of Mary’s personal items, including an embroidery of a cat and a mouse that she did herself.

Another interesting point in Holyrood was the Great Gallery, the largest room in the palace. It is filled with images of Scottish monarchs beginning with the legendary Fergus I. Many of the faces look more similar than you would expect from relatives. That’s because the painter hired to fill the gallery based everyone on the king at the time. The 110 portraits were all painted between 1684 and 1686 by Jacob de Wet.

The Great Gallery connects the 16th-century apartments in the north-west tower — where Queen Mary lived — with the 17th-century former king’s apartments. These areas are among those open to the public. Some areas of the palace are closed when the Queen is staying here.

You can get a sense of the difference between a palace and a castle when you compare Holyrood with Edinburgh Castle, which has been a residence, a fortress and a prison. It’s high up on a hill with cannons overlooking the city — you can tell it was built for defense. Today, it is the home of the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Scone. The historic stone had been stolen away to England by Edward I, but England returned it to Scotland in 1996. It is a tradition that the stone is part of the coronation of any English monarch; it is said that no English coronation will be legitimate “if the stone isn’t beneath the throne.” Our tour manager expected that Scotland will loan Prince William the stone when his time comes to succeed Elizabeth. (No one here thinks Charles has a hope of becoming the King of England.)

Part of the Honours of Scotland, the oldest royal regalia in the United Kingdom, the Scottish crown is the second oldest crown in Europe. It was made in 1540.

During the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell destroyed the English Crown Jewels, but the Honours of Scotland were buried until the monarchy was restored. After England and Scotland were unified, the Scottish Crown Jewels had no real purpose, so they were locked away in Edinburgh Castle and pretty much lost until 1818.

The display of the Crown Jewels and their lost-and-found history is interesting and the jewels themselves are beautiful. There were even replicas of a couple of pieces, including one of the swords, that blind people are allowed to touch in order to “see” the regalia. A nice thing to do, I thought. Be warned, though, it takes a long time to progress through the line to see the jewels and the Stone.

Every effort has been taken to make the castle accessible to all, but it is a historic site on a very steep slope, so some disabled people may need assistance. There is no public parking at the castle except for a few spaces for disabled visitors, and they must be booked in advance.

Edinburgh Castle is also home to St. Margaret’s Chapel, the oldest building in Edinburgh. There is a dungeon you can visit, two regimental museums, the National War Museum and the Scottish National War Memorial. Don’t forget to take a look at Mons Meg, a huge fat cannon that was a superweapon of its time. It fired 400-pound cannon balls.

We happened to be there at 1 p.m. when they fire a small cannon, the daily time signal for Edinburgh. They fire at 1 p.m. instead of noon, because it’s a lot cheaper to fire one shot than 12. After all, “We are in Scotland,” the local tour guide said.

Karen Weber does content coordinating and page layout for advertorial, such as real estate pages, for the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire newspapers. She also coordinates calendar items for the Highlander weeklies and The Weekly Star.

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